Bengal are knocked out

Calcutta: Bengal’s disastrous run in the Super League of the Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy T20 tournament resulted in them being knocked out of the tournament.

In Mumbai on Thursday, they lost their third group B match to Delhi by 7 wickets, following losses to Rajasthan and Baroda.

Put into bat by Delhi, Bengal managed to notch up 119/8 in their 20 overs, thanks largely to a 38-ball 45 by Sreevats Goswami. But Delhi batsmen proved that the total was too paltry, scoring 122/3 with an over to spare.

Incisive bowling from Delhi had restricted the Bengal batsmen. Taking two wickets each, Sumit Narwal (2/13, including a maiden), Javed Khan and Varun Sood did not allow the Bengal batsmen to settle down and the innings never really gained any momentum.

A run rate of only 5.95 was never really going to be enough in a T20 encounter.

Absence of players like Laxmi Ratan Shukla, Ashok Dinda and Wriddhiman Saha have definitely weakened Bengal, but almost all teams in the Super League are facing a similar fate with star players busy with the upcoming IPL VII. Apart from Shreevats, no other Bengal batsman scored more than 16.

Delhi lost Puneet Bisht in the second over of their chase, but a 76-run second-wicket stand between Mohit Sharma (41) and Samarth Singh (39) helped them move closer to the target. The duo fell off consecutive deliveries in the 15th over, but Yogesh Nagar and Jagrit Anand saw to it that Delhi cruised home without further trouble.

Stand-in captain Sourashish Lahiri seemed to be at a loss for words after yet another pathetic show by Bengal. "I really don't know what to say. It's just bad, bad batting.”

"On all the three days, we messed up with the bat. And presently, these are the best players at our disposal," he said from Mumbai.